Tag Archives: Handgun Course

This May I attended Guncraft’s 2-Day Handgun Course. The course met up at the Burro Canyon Shooting Range, and it was my first time up in that area. To get there, you take the 210 East and exit Azusa Avenue, and drive about 20 minutes up into the canyon. It is green up there! You pass a few dams, and it is part of the Angeles National Forest. It looks like there would be some great camping up there.

Here is me on the way up:

…and a few landscape pictures:

I arrived at Burro Canyon at about 9:10am, a little early for our 9:30am start time. I found the office and checked in, and made my way over to the shooting bay we had reserved for the two day class. Burro Canyon’s facilities are pretty primitive – just portable toilets and a trailer for the office. I later learned that they did have a flush toilet for women and handicapped, but it wasn’t hot and the brown rooms weren’t that bad. Do bring hand sanitizer, because they didn’t provide any. The shooting bays are maybe 100 yards, backing up to a hillside with gravel berms on either side.

Guncraft’s training was great! They took us through everything you need to know to be a competent shooter. All training was from the holster, and Guncraft made sure everyone was safe as they learned how to manage coming in and out of the holster. We practiced balancing speed with accuracy, and talked about the consequences of actually defending yourself.

This is what happens when I refuse to speed up. I am a member of “trigger slappers anonymous” – I want the gun to go bang when *I* want it to go bang. If I go slow, I don’t miss. Fast is another issue.

The second day brought more practice, and a crack at their simulated shooting “house,” which was actually pretty clever. That’s all I will say, because you have to go experience it yourself!!

In 2 days, the guys at Guncraft can teach you everything you could possibly need to know to own and operate a handgun. Although this isn’t “required” for you to own a handgun, I think that every gun owner owes it to themselves and those around them to take at least the two day class, if not the four day. I highly recommend Guncraft!